


Autumn in New York

by alessandralee



Category: Girl Meets World
Genre: Alternate Universe - Art School, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-02
Updated: 2015-09-02
Packaged: 2018-04-18 16:47:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4713170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alessandralee/pseuds/alessandralee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Maya likes to draw in the same park where a strange girl likes to walk her cat.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Autumn in New York

Morning was not Maya’s favorite time of day. If she had her way, she wouldn’t wake up until at least noon, three o’clock on weekends.

Unfortunately, Maya is also a practical person. And between a packed class schedule, and two part-times jobs, sometimes all she had was mornings.

So, like she does on most Thursday mornings, Maya sets down her sketchpad and pencils on her favorite bench in her favorite park, and gets ready to draw.

It’s a chilly November day, and she’s bundled up as best as she can, but she can’t hold a pencil with gloves on her hands, and she can’t see properly with a hood obscuring her vision. Maya figures she has two hours of drawing time before her fingers go completely numb.

But that should be plenty of time to get in a little practice. Last month’s theme was clothing, how different fabrics drape and move when people walk, how patters distort as they stretch across bodies. This month, thanks to an unwarranted comment from one of her classmates, Maya’s focusing on animals.

She’s already done plenty of dogs, all she needs to do is look out her bedroom window. Big and small, fluffy and sleek, there are always plenty of dogs being walked on the streets of New York.

She had to search out other animals, though. Her friend Sarah has two lizards and Maya draws them sometimes. Their skin is a bit difficult to draw, especially when the light changes. On Monday afternoons, there’s a guy who takes his giant parrot down to the park for the kids to ogle. And, of course, there are plenty of ducks, geese, swans, and pigeons in Central Park.

Thursday mornings are for cats. Well, just one cat. There’s a girl about Maya’s age who walks her cat in Maya’s favorite park. It’s totally weird, and Maya doesn’t understand how a cat enjoys that, but it seems to.

And hey, it’s sure beats the smell she has to endure when she draws her upstairs neighbors cats. Having that many animals in one place has to be health violation.

So Maya endures the cold November air (at least it hasn’t started snowing yet) all from a strange little cat on a purple leash.

And okay, maybe the cat’s owner is kind of cute. And maybe Maya draws her just as often as she draws the cat.

But it’s only because practice makes perfect, and Maya has yet to perfect the sunny look on that girl’s face.

And she has a tiny crush.

But her cat drawings are improving by leaps and bounds, and that’s what really matters.

“Is that my cat?” a voice startles Maya from her thoughts as she flips through her sketchbook to a clean page.

She immediately slams the book closed.

Her favorite cat owner takes a seat next to her and asks, “Are you an artist?”

Maya shrugs, suddenly self-conscious, “I’m trying to be.”

“That is so cool,” the other girl scoops her cat off the ground and sets it in her lap. Immediately, the cat starts batting at her long dark hair. She doesn’t seem to notice. “I’m Riley.”

“Maya. Thanks,” Maya replies. “Do you want to see?”

It’s like she’s been possessed. Maya doesn’t share. Not food, not space, not personal information, and certainly not her private artwork.

But here she is, not just letting another person take a look at her personal sketches, but volunteering them.

It must be the combination of Riley’s sweetness and enthusiasm that has Maya acting so strangely. If she could bottle that up, she could probably convince the financial aid office at school to increase her scholarship.

Maya flips to the middle of the books, the work she did a couple of weeks ago. It seems like a less embarrassing starting place than the beginning of the month. That cat was just embarrassing.

“Oh, I know him,” Riley points to a drawing of the guy with the parrot. “His bird tried to eat my necklace. It was shaped like a strawberry.”

Maya spends nearly all of her free time drawing, so there is plenty for her to show Riley, even if she carefully skips all the drawings that are actually of Riley. Life drawings from the free class at the community center, some of the regulars from the bar she works at, and the engagement present she’s working on for Yogi and Darby.

“Is that Peaches?” Riley asks when Maya flips to her most recent cat drawing. “That’s definitely Peaches. It totally recognize that thing she does with her tongue.”

“Your cat’s name is Peaches?” Maya asks.

Riley nods, “I wanted a dog, but I like with my parents and our apartment doesn’t allow them. But somehow my dad found a cat that likes to play fetch and go for walks. I think she was a dog in a past life.”

Maya laughs and reaches out to pet Peaches. Immediately, the cat rolls over onto her back to let Maya rub her belly.

“Just like a dog,” Maya comments.

“I know! I’ve got the best of both worlds.”

Peaches chooses this moment to abandon Riley’s lap for Maya’s sketchpad. She seems curious about the cat that lives inside it.

“Peaches, no,” Riley reprimands.

“It’s fine,” Maya deftly slides the sketchpad out from under the cat and sets it aside.

Peaches makes herself comfortable in Maya’s lap. At first Maya’s concerned about her falling to the ground, but she seems pretty sturdy.

“Looks like I won’t be getting any work done today,” Maya says, mostly to herself.

Riley immediately blushes, “I’m so sorry.” She moves to grab peaches, but the cat isn’t having any of it. “I’ll just take her and we’ll get out of your hair.”

“No, it’s fine,” Maya assures her. She didn’t mean to scare Riley away. “I’m not doing anything important. And I think I’ve gotten kind of attached to Peaches.” The cat digs her claws into Maya’s legs. “Literally.”

Riley laughs, then shivers a bit.

“Okay,” she says. “But can I suggest we get out of the cold? My mom owns a bakery a few blocks away. Let me buy you a coffee to make up for whatever my cat is doing to your tights.”

Maya has to remind herself to play it cool.

“Sure,” she replies. “One problem, though. Peaches doesn’t want to move.”

Riley tugs lights on the cat’s leash. Peaches meows in protest.

“I think if you stand up, she’ll move.”

Maya does as she told, fully expecting Peaches to dig in even further with her claws, but the cat jumps right off her.

“This way,” Riley tugs on Maya’s jacket to get her to follow her. “You’ve got to try my mother’s snow cap cookies.”

Maya follows Riley and Peaches out of the park. She has no idea what snow cap cookies are, but she’s definitely willing to try new things.


End file.
